In a remarkable display of determination and skill, blind climber Nicolas Moineau has successfully completed his first 5.13b with a repeat of Los Tacos de los dos rigolos at Saint-Géry.

Nicolas spent over a year projecting the route, memorising a sequence of 87 moves. He spent months working on the lower half, which is considered the crux of the climb.

In order to know his feet placement, Nicolas would tick the feet he found so his belayer could let him know when he was on the proper features. “The things specific to my blindness here were tickmarks in the first section up to the 4th QD precisely,” Mouineau said. “I marked three micro-feet for the belayer/guide. I ended up finding them almost without help but it reassured me that someone could tell me I was really putting my foot in the right place.”